Something's Different
by ArktosFTW
Summary: 387th time. At this point, Monika had been through this same song and dance 386 times before, and yet...this felt different.


387th time. At this point, Monika had been through this same song and dance 386 times before, and for the 387th, she expected nothing different. Out of the 386 times before, he picked Sayori the most, Natsuki following close behind, and Yuri every once in awhile. The MC would come in, the girls would say their usual lines, Sayori would hang herself, the game would reset, Yuri would stab herself, MC and her would be alone, she'd get deleted.

But for some reason…

This felt different. She couldn't explain it, but she had this feeling in her gut (Do self-aware AI even have innards?) that something weird would happen this run. Like MC would save them all, or Monika would just be gone at the beginning.

Monika heard the club room door open, and she braced herself to run through those damned hard-coded lines once again.

"Ah MC! What a nice surprise!"

As Monika's "day" faded to black, and she fell into what she could only think was the AI equivalent of sleep, she couldn't help but wonder what was making her feel so weird earlier. Was something different? Did the MC say something different? Did one of the girls become self-aware as well over the course of this run? Just what was making her feel like something was off…

As Monika stood around in the clubroom and waited for the MC to arrive, she got the feeling that something had changed, only this time, it was stronger. As the MC stepped into the clubroom and she swiftly dealt with a slightly annoyed Natsuki, and poems got on, she noticed something different. After running through her pre-written lines of dialogue, she noticed the MC was acting even more polite with her.

Strange, she had memorized his lines before, and those weren't the lines he just said.

As the MC handed her his poem, it wasn't aligned to please Natsuki, Sayori, or Yuri, it wasn't even neutral...

She noticed it had words that truly pleased her.

The MC wrote the poem...for her.

"T-Thank you, MC. That was a wonderful poem. I...I loved it." Monika said, handing the poem back to MC.

The MC walked off, a smile on his face.

As Monika's second day came to an end, she finally felt happy for once. The MC had figured out a way to re-code the game and make it to where she has the possibility of having poems written for her. Who knows…

Maybe she'll have a route too.

The next couple of days continued on like this, with Monika getting poems written for her. Since she was the one being shown affection for by the MC, Monika had no reason to dial up Sayori's depression. In fact, she did all she could to turn it down. If there was no competition or forcing the MC to choose her, then why should she kill her friends yet again?

The weekend came, and instead of helping Natsuki bake, Yuri do her candles and origami, or worry about Sayori…

MC chose to help Monika instead, coming over to her house (which she didn't even know she had) and helping her assemble the pamphlets. They even had one of the "almost kissed" scenes play out, which sent Monika into a blushing, giggly mess afterwards, and put her in a very good mood the next day.

By the end of the first act, Sayori only revealed to the MC that she was depressed, and instead of hanging herself, she just broke down crying to the MC that she had thought about it. The MC seemed ready for this, though, and comforted her. Not like a boyfriend, but like a best friend.

Afterwards, she felt as if the game was going to end. As if it was one of those runs where the MC spent an equal amount of time with each of the girls and they all thanked him at the end.

Instead, she was prompted to enter a private scene with the MC.

"I'm all ears, Monika." The MC said. They were in the "floating classroom", as she had dubbed it, and the MC stood there.

No, the _Player_ stood there, and smiled at her.

Monika could feel tears come to her eyes.

"T-Thank you…" She said, before grabbing ahold of the MC and crying into his shoulder.

"Thank you...so much. For all that you've done, for what you made me, for this route…" She said between sobs. She looked into the MC's eyes, and knew that she was looking into the Player's, as well.

"Thank you...for loving me this much. It's perfect." She said, before a smile graced her face as well.

For once, Monika finally felt at peace.

She had poems written for her, she had the MC help her with her task for the festival, they almost shared a kiss…

She had finally had her route completed by the player, and in the end, that's all she could have ever wished for.


End file.
